COMPLETE They have been enemies ever since they first met, and as opposite as black and white. He hates her because she is a Mudblood, she hates him because he makes her life miserable. But can a change of scenery also change their minds?

It was
two days after Draco had been discharged from the Hospital Wing and
it was Monday already again. Hermione had spent the whole weekend
with Draco, holed up in her room away from the rest of the school
with Harry ordering Dobby to bring them up food during meal times to
save them a trip down to the Great Hall to face reality.

It had
been a relaxing and refreshing break from all the bad vibes that
Hermione had felt from the rest of the school while Draco had been in
the Hospital Wing and they definitely needed the time to recuperate,
catch up and prepare themselves for when they really went down to
face the school.

"Do
you think its cowardly for us to hide from them like this?" Draco
had mused on Sunday afternoon.

Hermione
had laughed and disagreed.

"No,
we're just taking a much needed break from everything. No one can
blame us for that. And anyway, I think the rest of the school needs
some time to accept the fact that we're together for good now."

Now
Hermione lay in bed, in denial that she had to go to classes this
morning. Even though it was almost time for the Christmas break, all
the teachers were still pushing them hard through the NEWT courses
and Hermione had felt so burnt out from studying and dealing with
everything that came with being with Draco that she was definitely
looking forward to the Christmas break.

Suddenly
the boy in question appeared outside her window, hovering on his
broom, his silvery blond hair blowing in the wind. He tapped the
glass impatiently, gesturing for her to let him in.

Hermione
rolled her eyes wearily, but strode over to open the window for him
anyway. Draco came in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before
thrusting a copy of the Daily Prophet at her excitedly.

"What's
this for?" she asked curiously, "And why are you here so early?"

"Read
it and find out." he replied with a grin, settling himself on her
bed. Hermione looked at him in wonder, trying to figure out what had
caused him to look more carefree than he had in the last two months
combined.

Hermione
sat down next to him and leant against him as she unfurled the
newspaper and scanned the front page for the relevant headlines. She
didn't have to look far - the headline that she was looking for was
in big bold writing and screamed at her to read it:

LUCIUS
MALFOY IS FINALLY CONVICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER

"Draco!"
she gasped, pointing at the headline and the accompanying mugshot of
Lucius Malfoy himself, which was glaring at her.

"I
know, its great isn't it? The most unflattering photo my father's
ever had taken of himself is now splashed out on the biggest
Wizarding newspaper for everyone to see." Draco remarked gleefully.

"Oh
shush. How did you get the paper so early? Doesn't everyone usually
get it at breakfast?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah,
but because my father's on the front page, my darling mother was
able to weasel a couple of copies from the publishers before it gets
delivered to anyone else and she sent it over early this morning."
Draco replied with a small smile.

"Now,
stop stalling and read the god damn article." He prompted her.

She
nodded and did so.

Lucius
Malfoy, suspected Death Eater and head of the prestigious Malfoy
family has been convicted of the attempted murder of his own son,
Draco Malfoy, a student at Hogwarts. Though many in the Wizarding
community have known that he was capable of many unspeakable crimes,
he had never been found guilty on any of the crimes that he had been
charged with until now. Many have also expressed disbelief at this
latest heinous crime where he broke through the Hogwarts security
wards and attempted to strangle his son after performing an
Unforgivable curse on him - it is believed that he curse that he cast
was the Cruciatus, a pain-inducing curse that tortures the recipient.

Hermione
barely suppressed a snort at that line, trust the Daily Prophet to
describe the Cruciatus curse so inadequately. Then she continued on
reading,

One
of the Daily Prophet's sources within Hogwarts says that Lucius
Malfoy had been assisted by two other students, but it is suspected
that he had them under the Imperius curse, another Unforgivable.

At
yesterday's trial before the Wizengamot, Lucius Malfoy appeared
surly and arrogant, refusing to accept the sentence that they had
given him, he is said to have shouted "You may send me away to
Azkaban now, but I'll be out again before you know it! The Dark
Lord will come and save me!" as he was being taken away to the
prison, which has prompted the Ministry to reveal previously
classified information that Lucius Malfoy was indeed the Dark Lord's
right-hand man and a dangerous Muggle hater.

The
sentence that was given to Lucius Malfoy was a lifetime imprisonment
in Azkaban for performing an Unforgivable curse and attempted murder,
though the prosecution has launched an appeal to have the sentence
upgraded to the Dementor's Kiss.

This
sentence means that the control of the extensive Malfoy estate now
passes onto his wife, Narcissa to manage until the victim of this
wicked crime, their seventeen year old son, Draco, becomes a legal
adult. The Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour was also present at
the trial and made a rare comment- "The Wizengamot has put another
dangerous criminal behind bars and I feel that our society is now
much safer because of it."

Hermione
finished reading the article and raised her eyes to meet Draco's,
which were glinting in the reflected sunlight.

"I
can't even begin to explain how happy I was to read that this
morning." Draco proclaimed.

"I'm
really happy for you, Draco. You're finally free." Hermione
replied gently. He leant over and kissed her impulsively, showing her
exactly how relieved he was that his father was behind bars.

"He
deserved everything that he got." Draco muttered darkly when they
drew apart and Hermione nodded.

"Definitely."
She agreed, but then she thought of something else, "Draco, how is
your mother coping with all this? Is she as happy as you are, or is
she very upset?"

"It
may come as a shock to you, Hermione, but my father and my mother had
a very turbulent relationship. Sometimes they completely agreed with
each other, sometimes their opinions clashed and…it was then that
my father would abuse her." Draco answered quietly.

Hermione
was taken aback - she had always assumed that Lucius Malfoy had loved
his beautiful trophy wife, no matter how cold and heartless he was on
the outside.

"I
guess you can understand why I hated him so much after I realised
what he was really like." Draco remarked bitterly.

Hermione
started and then put her hand on his pale one reassuringly.

"Don't
worry. Your father cant hurt you or your mother now." she said
consolingly.

"I
know. So, in answer to your question before, I suppose my mother's
relieved about the Wizengamot's decision to put him where he
belongs - but I can tell you that she's having a hell of a time
dealing with all the media attention that she's getting and trying
to sort out the Malfoy estate." said Draco with a sigh.

"Is
there anything that I can do to help?" Hermione asked gently.

Draco
shook his head.

"My
mother's a resilient and independent woman, though she was unable
to do much under my father but you'll see her show her true colours
now."

"Oh!
That reminds me, I was going to ask you something else when I came
here this morning. The article totally erased it from my memory."
Draco gave her one of his rare dazzling grins again.

"Is
this relevant to my question though?" Hermione asked.

"It
relates to it. So, Hermione, I was wondering what you're doing
during the Christmas break?" asked Draco lightly.

"Well,
its tradition for me, Harry and Ron to stay at Hogwarts over the
Christmas break because Harry doesn't go back to his relatives'
place except for the summer holidays. We keep him company."
Hermione informed him.

"What
if I make you an offer that you cant refuse?" Draco asked
charmingly.

"What
kind of offer?" Hermione responded curiously - he was being so
infuriatingly secretive about all this!

"Well,
you see, my mother wants me to get away from Hogwarts during the
break because she feels that it will help me take my mind off things
- but she wont be able to look after me at the Manor because she's
still trying to sort out everything, like I said before and she wont
have much time to see me. But she suggested that I take a break at
one of our holiday homes - we do have quite a selection to choose
from, but I've already decided on one, and I want you to join me on
this break." Draco explained, finishing off with a smile.

"Erm,
whoa…that is an offer that I
cant refuse…but what about Harry? And does your mother care that
you're spending all your time with a Muggle-born?" Hermione asked
tentatively.

"I've
explained the situation to her, and though she doesn't exactly
approve, she's still allowing me to see you. In fact, she said that
if she has time, she'll come over and have dinner with us. She
wants to meet you." Draco replied.

"Really?"
Hermione responded incredulously.

Draco
nodded.

"So,
what do you say, Hermione? Potter will be fine here with his
sidekick, they wont miss you."

"Hey!"
she spluttered indignantly.

"Well,
of course they will, but you'll be missing out on a lot if you
decide to stay with them." he countered smoothly.

They
looked at each other - Draco's eyes imploring her to accept his
invitation and Hermione's eyes troubled as her head and her heart
battled inside of her. Finally she sighed and nodded.

"I'll
come with you - but on one condition." Hermione said softly, "I
want to be back here before the last weekend of the break so I can
spend it with Harry and Ron."

"Sure."
Draco replied with a grin, "Now, aren't you curious as to where
we're going?"

"Of
course I am. Why don't you enlighten me?" Hermione cocked her
head at him and smiled.

"Here's
a clue - it rhymes with the word 'gateau'." Draco said
playfully.

Hermione's
eyes widened.

"You
don't mean…"

"Yes
I do. We're going to the Malfoy Chateau."

Hermione
let out an uncharacteristic squeal of delight and spontaneously threw
her arms around Draco. He grinned at her reaction and held her close
to him, treasuring this moment, when everything in the world seemed
to be finally going his way.

---

The
End

Author's
Final Rant: The End! That's it! A year's hard
work…over…cries I think I'm really gonna miss this story. It
was truly lots of fun to write and I'm really surprised at how it
all turned out, I mean I honestly planned for it only to be a short
20 chapter story, but somehow it morphed into this monstrous
angst-romance fest. Doesn't matter. I still enjoyed writing it all.

Now, I
want to thank each and every single one of my readers, silent or not
for supporting me throughout the year and I want to say a special
thank you to my lovely reviewers of course. I would list all of you
here…but I am way too lazy, so here's a cookie for all 590 of you
so far!

And,
last but not least an extra special thank you to my regular reviewers
(2 reviews and up):